Dust Of the Wild
by Dyde21
Summary: A young Gerudo named Pyrrha sets off on a Journey to find a Voe to call her own, coming from the predominantly all female Gerudo tribe. She runs across a strange little blonde guy in an alley, and the rest, as they say, is history. Set in the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild universe. No connection to the in-game story, takes place in a more peaceful time. No spoilers in this.


Inspired by Jaune-refaire-arc over on Tumblr. Based off their answer to a prompt they were given, I got permission to write up this little fic and then cross post it here as well! Seriously, props to them for providing the outline for this.

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Pyrrha wandered through the streets of the village she was passing through, hoisting up the straps of her backpack. It had been over a year since she had set out to find a mate, yet she seemed to be having no such luck. Before she had left on her pilgrimage her parents had carefully explained the situation to her. The Gerudo tribe was almost exclusively women, so in order to maintain their populations they had to seek out mates from outside the tribe.

Pyrrha had been aware of the fact from a young age, and her mind had always daydreamed about meeting a wonderful Voe to call her own. What she hadn't expected to find when she set out on her long awaited journey was the tensions that existed between her tribe and the Hylians.

Her combat prowess had meant that she had been held in high regard in her tribe. Her strength something envied, and she was placed on a pedestal, being called the new future champion of the tribe. It was an honor for sure, but Pyrrha feared remaining up there alone. She feared that her childhood dream of finding a wonderful Voe to stand at her side would remain just that, a dream.

Never one to back down, she had set off on her own, determined to find her mate. The world was large, and surely there had to be plenty of potential suitors out there. Even if she could be a bit... intimidating. Though, over a year into her journey she was starting to doubt that there was anyone out there. She no luck at all before now. None of the Voe she came across seemed interested in her, or always seemed too intimidated to form any friendships let alone a romantic one. The others, well, Pyrrha couldn't find herself interested in them. Of course, those were only the ones who didn't shun her for her heritage. Still, the thought of giving up went against her very nature so she'd keep trying.

Failing to attract a mate wasn't the only problem that she was facing at the moment though. Her reserves of money had dwindled and she was faced with two options. Either return home, give up on attracting a mate, and take her place in the Gerudo army. Or, she could find work.

Ever the independent one, Pyrrha opted for the latter. The problem was, she wasn't exactly the most adept at normal tasks. Give her a sword and shield, and no foe could stand before her. On the other hand, give her a ladle and a pot to cook in and no one would remain standing either. Her very Gerudo appearance also meant that many employers were hesitant to employ her, even if they were accepting of her it was still a gamble to have her as their public image. So she settled for what she did best, fighting.

She became a mercenary, a hired sword for anyone who could pay. Within reason of course, Pyrrha would never support someone looking to spread evil in the world, regardless of what her financial situation may be. Often times she would find herself accompanying some scientist or archaeologist exploring a remote region that was known to be a breeding ground for monsters. In fact, she had recently finished escorting a young lady who was hoping to harvest some rare vegetables from a remote forest, known for it's monster infestation.

Hardly a problem for Pyrrha, the trip had gone off without a hitch. What had interested Pyrrha though was the little "girl talk" they had had along the way. The reason for Pyrrha's journey had come up in their idle chitchat, and they had discussed what it was like to be in love. It seems the woman she had escorted was married, and was eager to finish the trip so she could return home to her lover.

The talk had both set Pyrrha's heart fluttering in a sappy joy, and grow frustrated at her own failures. Perhaps she was too tall? Too strong?

So here she was, wandering through the back streets of the town towards the inn where she was currently staying. A nice, quiet little inn in the back of the city that didn't mind her heritage and she could find refuge. What she hadn't expected that night though, was to see a blonde boy her age fall to the ground in a back alley, two thugs standing over him. It didn't take an expert to realize what would happen next.

Drawing her sword and shield she rushed forward, her heart refusing to let her pass by someone in need. The fight had been brief. They had been intimidated by her stature and heritage, and it only took a single bash from her shield to each of them before they quickly scrambled away, throwing some rather impolite slurs her way.

Turning to the blonde on the ground, she offered him a hand up. "Sav'saaba! Are you okay?" She asked with a warm smile.

Taking her hand, the boy was surprised by the strength at which she had lifted him off the ground. "I'm fine! Th... uh. Sarqso... I think?" He rambled out, hoping his pronunciation was correct.

Pyrrha's heart fluttered a beat. His pronunciation was a little off, but she was shocked to hear him use her native tongue. "Very good!" She praised. She had been prepared to receive rebuke for stepping in, many in this area were a little close minded about her tribe, and few among those who were tolerant ever took the time to learn even a word.

"You really saved me there. How about you come over for a meal?" He offered with a friendly smile, wanting to repay his savior in some way.

Once again, Pyrrha was caught off guard. She hadn't been shown such kindness in such a long time. This made her guard go up just a bit, why was he so kind to her? Still, a rumble from her stomach seemed to make up her mind for her and she agreed.

Their trip back to his place was peaceful, though they did receive some strange looks when they saw a Gerudo following behind a Hylian. Pyrrha could only guess what they were thinking, but she knew she didn't want to know.

Soon enough she found herself seated at a simple wooden table as he leaned over a stove, preparing a meal for the both of them. They had traded idle chitchat before, just small talk about the place and the weather, but they were both suddenly feeling a little awkward to find themselves in such a position suddenly.

When the boy jumped suddenly after a moment of quiet, her hand flew to the knife on the table, grabbing it instinctively.

"My name is Jaune!" He blurted out, turning to her with a panicked look.

Pyrrha dropped her knife, the gears in her head grinding to a halt. "Excuse me?"

Jaune blushed, looking and scratching the back of his head. "Sorry. I just realized I never said my name, yet I'm already cooking for you."

Pyrrha just stared at him for a moment before letting out a hearty laugh. "That's okay, I forgot as well. My name is Pyrrha. Pleasure to meet you."

He nodded. "Pyrrha. Pyrrha. Got it. Pyrrha." He repeated, determined not to forget it.

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow but just settled back into her chair comfortably. "So, Jaune, may I ask what you were doing in that back alley?"

Jaune froze in the middle of stirring the pot. Letting out a nervous chuckle he turned around. "Uh, you see I wasn't the only one about to be mugged. I was heading home when I saw those two thugs pinning some lady against a wall. What kind of hero would I be if I let that go?" He said with a grin, though after a moment it faltered. "Well, that was my plan at least. I managed to distract them so she could flee, but I underestimated them. I thought I could take them but it didn't go very well. Not very heroic after all." He said, looking crestfallen.

Pyrrha offered him a warm smile. "Well I certainly think that was very heroic of you."

Perking up at the compliment, Jaune grinned. "Well if you insist." He crooned, earning a chuckle from Pyrrha.

A little while later both plates were set as they both sat down, a warm stew in front of them. Jaune dug in, but watched her expectantly.

Pyrrha took a bite after a moment, preparing for the worst. Her eyes widened at the amazing flavor. "This is delicious." She muttered mostly to herself. It had been so long since she had a homemade meal, usually making due with a purchased meal from a restaurant or campfire cooking.

Jaune grinned. "Well thank you."

Their conversation had halted while they ate, Pyrrha eagerly working her way through her share, and after Jaune's insistence a second one as well. As Pyrrha was finishing up her second serving, she sighed and sat back in her chair.

"This is a lovely home. I would love to have a place like this." She remarked, her eyes glancing around the quaint, but warm home.

Jaune nodded. "I've lived here my whole life. Where do you live?" He asked innocently.

Pyrrha shifted in her seat, nervously taking another bite. "Uh, at the moment I'm staying in an Inn. Permanent residences don't really... end well for me."

Jaune looked at her, tilting his head curiously. "Why's that?" He asked, having no idea why someone so nice could face any kind of problem.

Pyrrha stared at him blankly for a moment, surprised he was blissfully ignorant of the hardships she faced as a Gerudo. Smiling softly at the sweet naive boy in front of her she spoke.

"I'm afraid not everyone is as accepting of the Gerudo as you seem to be. Wherever I end up staying is usually... defaced and vandalized. Even kind renters can only take so much abuse for my sake.

Watching his expression carefully, she saw shock gradually change to a look of being appalled. "That's... that's horrible! How could they do something like that. Just because you're a little different they think it's okay?! Those jerks." Jaune started to rant to himself, working himself up.

Pyrrha just giggled slightly at him, amused by his reaction. It truly was an awful thing, but it was refreshing to see how bothered he was by it. He wasn't even putting a front to try and show support, but genuinely seemed to be in a bad mood now because of it. Some sliver of her felt guilty for ruining the good mood in the air with that revelation to him.

"It is fine. It is not like we Gerudo are completely innocent either, some of my people have definitely behaved... poorly in the past. We all need to move forward together." She offered.

Jaune just nodded, leaning back in his seat still looking upset.

After a moment he snapped his fingers and looked at her. "That's it! You should just stay with me." He offered with a grin.

Once again, Pyrrha felt like she had feet swept out from underneath her. "W-What?"

Jaune just grinned. "Well if people are being such a hassle to you, you can just stay here. This house is much too big for just me. I used to live here with my parents and 7 sisters, but recently they moved to a different town due to business. I chose to stay here though, I like it here so I'm staying here." He explained matter-of-factually.

Pyrrha was shocked by his openness. They barely knew each other after all. "I couldn't possibly intrude. Besides, if they find out I'm staying here they could vandalize this lovely place as well." She offered, with a sad tone. She didn't find the idea of staying with him unappealing, but she couldn't possibly burden him so.

Jaune just shrugged. "So? My family bought this place years ago, it's completely ours. No one can complain if people target it, and I'm close to the neighbors here. They won't bother us and they'll keep an eye out." He explained with a grin. Though, after a moment he faltered. "I mean... I don't want to be pushy. I'm sorry, maybe I crossed a line. We hardly know each other after all, and you had saved me so I wanted to repay you somehow." He looked down. "I know I'm probably not the ideal man to live with if you needed to save me before."

Pyrrha felt a tug on her heart strings. He looked just like a sad puppy when he was pouting, she felt all her defiance crumble away. It wasn't like she had a better option, and she knew he was an honest guy. When she thought about it, it was the perfect situation for her. "Okay."

His eyes widened. "Really?"

Pyrrha grinned. "Looks like we're roomies."

From then on, they quickly grew closer together. She quickly learned how eager he was to become a hero that can help others, often hearing stories about his ancestors and the heroic deeds that came before him. After returning home early after a job, she found him in the back training with a sword. It was certainly a sight to her. He trained so hard, so eagerly to improve, but his form was all wrong and his exercises were sloppy. It was clear he never had a proper teacher, so she offered to teach him what she had learned over time. Pyrrha was just happy to see him smile whenever they trained, and she found having a practice partner useful for staying at the top of her game so far away from home.

Another perk she had discovered about living with Jaune was how well he could take care of a home. He claimed it was from having to clean up after 7 sisters, but he was a wonderful chef. He always had a meal waiting for her, a warm bath drawn, and a smile that filled her with warmth even on the coldest winter nights. Slowly but surely she found her wanderlust being replaced with a desire to return home.

It didn't take long for her to fall for him, after all she had gone out looking for a Voe to call her own in the first place. She had suspicions he may be the one when she moved in with him, but the more she had learned about him the faster she had fallen in love with him.

That was when she had hit a wall of inexperience. Falling in love was an often discussed topic among the Gerudo, but many didn't have practical experience in it. After all, men weren't allowed with the walls of the city, so those who fell in love and settled down lived away from home and would only visit on occasion. So her requests for help and advice from home was quickly revealed to be a fruitless effort.

But Pyrrha was a smart girl, she could figure it out on her own surely. Or with a book or two. After stealthily purchasing a book on romance, she had read through it in a night, determined to succeed. But it seemed real life was harder than a fairy tale.

The thought of physically attracting him made her too embarrassed to properly act, and from her one attempt it seemed to have embarrassed Jaune enough that they had finished their dinner in separate rooms that night. She tried flirting, but their frames of references were so wildly different. She had been pretty proud of her lines about him being her oasis, but when he asked eagerly what an oasis was she knew she had failed yet again.

Pyrrha had spent plenty of time watching Jaune cook, how hard could it be? If she could cook a satisfying meal on a campfire surely she could manage one in a kitchen. She had quickly learned that was wrong, and that fire can spread quickly if you aren't careful. Luckily her quick reaction time and pre-prepared bucket of water stopped any significant damage. The Gerudo were wonderful dancers, especially with sabers but when she tried doing a more traditional Hylian dance with him, she had to apologize the entire next day as she saw him hobble around the house with sore feet. She felt awful, but the steps had been so erratic and foreign to her, and his feet always seemed to be in the worst spot.

Desperate, she had gone with the oldest trick in the book. Going to a remote location she had heard about from a client, she had picked a wonderful bouquet of flowers, apparently ones that were said to cause happiness just by their aroma. Also the ones that Jaune was apparently extremely allergic to.

A visit from the doctor later, and a few elixirs down the hatch, and Jaune was assuring her that he appreciated the gesture and that he loved looking at them in his neighbor's window.

Feeling defeated, she felt determined to at least prove a good teacher to him. Surely bruises and expending effort with someone was some form of bonding, no? What better way to show passion than with brute strength. At least, that's what she repeated to herself like a mantra to keep herself sane.

At first, Jaune had been a little confused. She had started acting differently, going out of her way for him. It scared him a little, usually to it ending in some form of injury most of the time. But after a few letters to his sisters, and some blunt advice from the oldest, he had learned what she was up to, and it floored him. He had been suppressing his own feelings for a while, scared of scaring off his one true friend but once he had realized she really had been doing all of these things for him he felt his love grow in leaps and bounds.

Seeing her a little discouraged, he decided to do his own share of work. Calling in a favor from one of his sisters, she had come to visit and taught them a new dance. His suspicions had been correct. Pyrrha was a wonderful dancer, she just needed proper instruction. That, and when she had shown him a traditional Gerudo dance, he couldn't keep his eyes off her.

On one of her days free, he had convinced her to follow him and lead her to a spot he used to picnic at with his family when he was young. It was remote, and in the center of a massive field of flowers. He wasn't sure how long they had just laid there in the center, holding hands and talking about everything. One day, after a casual mention of missing cooking from home he had gone on an adventure. Four shops, two traveling merchants, and a chance Gerudo passing by, and he had managed to get his hands on a cookbook native to the tribe. It had taken a few attempts, but when she returned home from her next mission she had found herself coming home to a full feast just like home. Jaune still remembered the tearful smile in her eyes as she had thrown her arms around him.

He had prepared a few pick-up lines to offer her as well, but they always died on his lips when he saw her. He had been surprised though when she suddenly announced she wanted to introduce him to her sisters. Which meant a trip to the desert of course. He had already agreed and was figuring out what to pack by the time she had finished offering.

By the end of the trip to the desert he had learned two things. One, just how important water was, and the true weight behind calling him her oasis. They had stayed in the desert a while, stopping at a nearby inn for the trip as he still wasn't allowed within the walls of the Gerudo city. The second was that almost all of her sisters were at least a similar level of intimidating as she was. He had thought his sisters could be scary, but seeing four Gerudo women crowding around him, asking questions made him want to run to the Zoras for safety. At least until Pyrrha had intervened and given him the space, and comfort he needed.

The rest as they say, was history. On the banks of the Oasis on their last day in the desert he had asked the question, having obtained a traditional Gerudo ring with some help from her sisters. Before long they had gotten married at that very same Oasis, both of their families in attendance. It had been a weird little mash-up, but both Pyrrha and Jaune wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

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Thank you for reading! I enjoyed writing this, it was a fun little combination of my two interests at the moment. Seriously, props to Jaune-Refaire-Arc on Tumblr. They pretty much outlined everything in an answer, I just actually wrote it up as a story. Credits to them, and for giving me the permission to post this here as well. Anyway, that's all I will be writing for this but it was fun to actually write their whole story in a short little one shot for a change. I hope you all have a fantastic freaking day! :D Cheers! o/


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